This invention relates to improvements in nuclear power generation.
The oil embargo of 1973 illustrated the vulnerability of the industrialized world to the interruption of its energy supply, and since that time considerable work and research have been done on alternate types of energy, particularly energies having an endless source of supply. One such source of energy is nuclear fission, which clearly has inherent disadvantages, such as long term radioactivity and the resulting negative public opinion. Design projects are now under way to test the practicality of generating power from the thermonuclear fusion of ions trapped by magnetic fields. Torus-shaped reactors have been built which seek to burn deuteruim-tritium mixtures. An alternative research project, a structure identified as a tandem mirror, comprises a device in which a plasma is confined by magnetic and electrostatic barriers at each end of a linear sequence of magnets. To date no device has demonstrated a particle containment adequate to provide a practical fusion reactor. Other disadvantages associated with the existing machines are extensive lithium blanket requirements and the problem of random, uncontrollable 14 MeV neutron emission.